Home Garden on My Balcony

My wife and I keep a home garden on our balcony.

Mulukhiya called 'moroheiya' in Japanese, okra, cherry tomato are growing in their flowerpot.

Mulukhiya and cherry tomato are having yellow flowers recently.

The Azaleas Are in Full Bloom

Utsunomiya Tower and azaleas

There were lots of trees in Hachiman-yama park.

Cherry blossom were already finished but the azaleas were at their best just two weeks ago.

I visited the park two times in May.

I found that white color azaleas bloomed one or two weeks later than red or purple color ones. 

I Go to A Little Zoo in Hachiman-yama Park

My wife and I went to a little zoo which kept a pony, capibaras, monkeys, Japanese cranes, peacocks, pigs and else just one week ago.

The zoo was located in Hachiman-yama Park.

Luckily, it was exceptionally not closed, even Utsunomiya Tower and other shops there were closed due to COVID-19.

Roadside Flowers From Home to Utsunomiya Central Park

Chinese violet cress in a vacant land

tree peony beside Union Street

There were flowers even on the way from home to the Utsunomiya central park.

Most shops along the Union Street were closed due to COVID-19, though wild flowers in a vacant land and flowers in a street side flower bed were blooming beautifully.

I Go to Utsunomiya Central Park #2

There are not only flower gardens but also a big pond and a medium size pond with traditional Japanese style bridges.

While I was staying in the park, I rarely met people.

I think the number of people visiting the park might be less than one tenth that of the number on a usual day.

Carps and wild ducks, they were swimming as usual, did not care about COVID-19 at all.

It was a very quiet day.

I Go to Utsunomiya Central Park

Since Japanese government declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 or coronavirus disease 2019, many shops, restaurants, movie theaters, sports facilities and others are closed.

Our activities are strictly limited now.

I went to Utsunomiya Central Park to see flowers several days ago. It took forty-five minutes by walking from home to the park.

Flowers didn't care about the disease and were blooming beautifully.

Field Mustard at Home

I brought back wild field mustard flowers from open ground near public tennis courts where I often play tennis.

My wife and I decorated our living room with them.

The very next day after we did so, we had an unseasonable blizzard.

I See a Full Moon and Sea of Clouds

It is nice to see the changes of scenery from high-rise condominium.

Especially, rainbows, the sunset, the sunrise, a full moon and sea of clouds are among the tops.

I Go to Utsunomiya Castle Park

I went to Utsunomiya Castle Park to see full-bloomed cherry blossoms, kawazu-zakura even in the heavy rain the other day.

Few people were walking about the park and only one bird was on the branch.

No wonder, I could not play tennis at all on the day.

brown-eared bulbul or  hiyo-dori

Shiobara Hot Spa Resort #3

Eating delicious food, good walking exercises and seeing wonderful scenery, all of them made me refreshed a lot.

It is my privilege, living in Tochigi, to visit the place like this spending just a couple hours driving from home.